Graffiti | pwfotos

Back before the world went crazy with Covid-19, I joined up with members of Hutt Camera Club for a Saturday field trip to Fort Balance on the Miramar Peninsula.

Fort Balance is one of a number of gun emplacements scattered around the entrance to the harbour, and unlike Palmer Head still has a lot of graffiti. I had seem in used in lots of shoots but never got there myself. It was built in 1886 as a result of fears that the Russians would invade.

Figuring that there would be areas inside the complex I packed my Godox speed light and strobe. This meant that I could shoot by myself rather than having others shooting over my shoulder.

The trip organiser also brought along Che who is one of her regular models along with quite a collection of dresses.

When we arrived at the location I dropped the gear and spent a good ten minutes looking around before even picking up the camera. This time let me sort out the types of shots I was looking for. I also spotted two areas that I thought had good possibilities.

This shot totally relied on the strobes as this room was in complete darkness.

One was a stair case that had walls on both sides covered with graffiti. I had my wide angle lens with me and I used the distortion it created to use the walls as wings.

The second was a brightly painted wall that matched the colour of the second dress Che was wearing.

Che is only 14 and therefore does occasional slip into goofy behaviour. I thought that we could capture that with the help of one of the largest pieces of art on the walls. The result is the image below

Overall it was a pleasant outing with good company. I plan on going back to Fort Balance at some stage in the future.

I have posted before about my love for good street art and on my last trip did collect main images that at the time I was using in some commercial work.

The street art in Melbourne is everywhere and you don’t need to wander far to find it. In the central city several of the lanes are now so famous for it that they appear in the tourist guides. In the outer suburbs businesses actually encourage artists to decorate their walls, and in one place I saw a notice getting the public to vote on which design would go onto the wall.

The images below just represent a small sample of what is on display around the city.